Before the end of the thirteenth century, theologians had little interest in demons, but with Thomas Aquinas and his formidable “Treatise on Evil” in 1272, everything changed. In Satan the Heretic, Alain Boureau trains his skeptical eye not on Satan or Satanism, but on the birth of demonology and the sudden belief in the power of demons who inhabited Satan’s Court, setting out to understand not why people believed in demons, but why theologians—especially Pope John XXII—became so interested in the subject.

Depicting this new demonology, Satan the Heretic considers the period between the mid-thirteenth and mid-fourteenth centuries when demons, in the eyes of Church authorities, suddenly burst forth, more real and more terrifying than ever before in the history of Christianity. Boureau argues that the rise in this obsession with demons occurs at the crossroads of the rise of sovereignties and of the individual, a rise that, tellingly, also coincides with the emergence of the modern legal system in the European West.

Teeming with original insights and lively anecdotes, Satan the Heretic is a significant contribution to the history of Christian demonology from one of the most original minds in the field of medieval studies today.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Alain Boureau is director of studies at l'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, and the author of The Lord’s First Night and The Myth of Pope Joan, both published by the University of Chicago Press. Teresa Lavender Fagan has translated more than a dozen books, including Ghosts in the Middle Ages by Jean-Claude Schmitt and The Wisdom of the World by Rémi Brague, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

REVIEWS

“In this fascinating new book, Alain Boureau dissolves the mystery surrounding the sudden appearance of witch hunts in the early fifteenth century. The early modern concept of the witch was made possible more than a century earlier as medieval demonology coalesced into an autonomous ‘science.’ Around 1300 Scholastic theologians and papal consultants developed sacramental conceptions of the pact, Satan’s relations with heretics, and the nature of magical assaults that bore tragic consequences until nearly 1700. Boureau’s careful analyses of circumstances and arguments will make Satan the Heretic a classic in the intellectual history of witchcraft.”

— Walter Stephens, author of Demon Lovers

“Satan the Heretic is an important contribution to the field of medieval demonology. Boureau contends that, contrary to common belief, medieval culture experienced a ‘peaceful’ coexistence with demons, and that modern witchcraze emerged as a sudden and unexpected theological turn between 1280 and 1330. Boureau’s belief in an ‘early’ origin of Western obsession with demons and witches entails a far-reaching revision of this complex and fascinating phenomenon.”

— Armando Maggi, author of In the Company of Demons

"An excellent account of the swift development of Scholastic demonology during the thirteenth century."

— Alastair Sooke, Times Literary Supplement

"This is a valuable addition to the history of medieval demonology and magic."

— Sophie Page, Catholic Historical Review

"Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the developing perceptions of demonology in the Medieval West."

— Jacques Theron, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae

"A subtle analysis of a shift in ideas that would, eventually, lead to the severest and most corporeal ramifications. . . . Its readers must grapple not only with the persuasiveness of Boureau's thesis, but also with the vitality of finely assembled intellectual history."

— Christine Caldwell Ames, H-France Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface to the English-Language Edition
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Satan the Heretic: The Judicial Institution of Demonology under John XXII

2. Satanic Sacraments? Enrico del Carreto's Discovery

3. The Pact: An Overview

4. The Liberation of Demons: The Birth of Scholastic Demonology

5. The New Possessed: Saints and Demons in Canonization Trials at the Beginning of the Fourteenth Century

6. The Openness of the Subject: A Scholastic Anthropology of Possession

7. Supernatural Invasions: Mystical Models of Possession

Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who has a disability that prevents you
from using this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the disability coordinator at your school fill out this form.

Before the end of the thirteenth century, theologians had little interest in demons, but with Thomas Aquinas and his formidable “Treatise on Evil” in 1272, everything changed. In Satan the Heretic, Alain Boureau trains his skeptical eye not on Satan or Satanism, but on the birth of demonology and the sudden belief in the power of demons who inhabited Satan’s Court, setting out to understand not why people believed in demons, but why theologians—especially Pope John XXII—became so interested in the subject.

Depicting this new demonology, Satan the Heretic considers the period between the mid-thirteenth and mid-fourteenth centuries when demons, in the eyes of Church authorities, suddenly burst forth, more real and more terrifying than ever before in the history of Christianity. Boureau argues that the rise in this obsession with demons occurs at the crossroads of the rise of sovereignties and of the individual, a rise that, tellingly, also coincides with the emergence of the modern legal system in the European West.

Teeming with original insights and lively anecdotes, Satan the Heretic is a significant contribution to the history of Christian demonology from one of the most original minds in the field of medieval studies today.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Alain Boureau is director of studies at l'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, and the author of The Lord’s First Night and The Myth of Pope Joan, both published by the University of Chicago Press. Teresa Lavender Fagan has translated more than a dozen books, including Ghosts in the Middle Ages by Jean-Claude Schmitt and The Wisdom of the World by Rémi Brague, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

REVIEWS

“In this fascinating new book, Alain Boureau dissolves the mystery surrounding the sudden appearance of witch hunts in the early fifteenth century. The early modern concept of the witch was made possible more than a century earlier as medieval demonology coalesced into an autonomous ‘science.’ Around 1300 Scholastic theologians and papal consultants developed sacramental conceptions of the pact, Satan’s relations with heretics, and the nature of magical assaults that bore tragic consequences until nearly 1700. Boureau’s careful analyses of circumstances and arguments will make Satan the Heretic a classic in the intellectual history of witchcraft.”

— Walter Stephens, author of Demon Lovers

“Satan the Heretic is an important contribution to the field of medieval demonology. Boureau contends that, contrary to common belief, medieval culture experienced a ‘peaceful’ coexistence with demons, and that modern witchcraze emerged as a sudden and unexpected theological turn between 1280 and 1330. Boureau’s belief in an ‘early’ origin of Western obsession with demons and witches entails a far-reaching revision of this complex and fascinating phenomenon.”

— Armando Maggi, author of In the Company of Demons

"An excellent account of the swift development of Scholastic demonology during the thirteenth century."

— Alastair Sooke, Times Literary Supplement

"This is a valuable addition to the history of medieval demonology and magic."

— Sophie Page, Catholic Historical Review

"Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the developing perceptions of demonology in the Medieval West."

— Jacques Theron, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae

"A subtle analysis of a shift in ideas that would, eventually, lead to the severest and most corporeal ramifications. . . . Its readers must grapple not only with the persuasiveness of Boureau's thesis, but also with the vitality of finely assembled intellectual history."

— Christine Caldwell Ames, H-France Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface to the English-Language Edition
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Satan the Heretic: The Judicial Institution of Demonology under John XXII

2. Satanic Sacraments? Enrico del Carreto's Discovery

3. The Pact: An Overview

4. The Liberation of Demons: The Birth of Scholastic Demonology

5. The New Possessed: Saints and Demons in Canonization Trials at the Beginning of the Fourteenth Century

6. The Openness of the Subject: A Scholastic Anthropology of Possession

7. Supernatural Invasions: Mystical Models of Possession

Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE

If you are a student who has a disability that prevents you
from using this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.

Please have the disability coordinator at your school fill out this form.